Arguing with the anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers, flat earthers, and climate change deniers is a heck of a job. If you've ever tried, you’ll know what I am talking about.
And even though you recognize the fallacy in their arguments, like saying that masks don’t help to stop the coronavirus, you sometimes need heavy artillery.
Luckily, some people who know what they’re talking about have done everyone a service and stepped in to school the science deniers big time. From biochemists to sport scientists, these are some of the most mic-drop moves in stopping the spread of misinformation.
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These days, when there are so many science deniers, it may feel like arguing with them is absolutely pointless. But a 2019 study published in the journal Nature Human Behavior showed that it’s in fact worth arguing with them.
Philipp Schmid and Cornelia Betsch of the University of Erfurt in Germany conducted six experiments with 1,773 subjects. They assessed “how to mitigate the influence of a denier on the audience.”
The results showed that “not responding to science deniers has a negative effect on attitudes towards behaviors favored by science (for example, vaccination) and intentions to perform these behaviors.”
Alan Turing was praised for what he has done during war time and condemned for whom he loved. That's the great tragedy of his life.
Dear God-botherers. If god drowned everyone except one family on the planet because they were evil then he believed that unborn children could be evil (not to mention all the born children). You anti-abortion types must really hate god for that.
Yes, but Christianity does actually teach that all humans have the potential to do evil baked into their nature, so they should believe that "unborn children could be evil". So there's no contradiction there. Even from a secular perspective, this would seem to be a true thing about humanity, as it happens.
Load More Replies...Ugh, you don't have to be an atheist to answer that question. That's just embarrassing. Why can't it be acceptable for me to believe in god and science! Lol well whatever, I do anyway :)
Good for you! As a child I tried to reconcile one with the other. So I came up with the idea that Adam and Eve were the first cavemen after they were thrown out of Eden. Lol
Load More Replies...Yes they probably evolved into turkeys and chickens too, and turtles have existed for so long some animals are just champions of survival
Load More Replies...Not all religious people are that dumb. Please don't lump us all together. I know each of us have extremist but most of us are trying to make it through the day.
Yes. I am Christian, but I despise Trump, support LGBTQ rights, am pro choice, and am vaccinated. Christianity and science are not mutually exclusive. My faith gives me a purpose for existence and comforts me, and has gotten me through some hard points. Believe what you will or don’t, but please, please, don’t hate on believers or group the extremists and the sane among us together.
Load More Replies...Yeah I don't do the whole God thing anymore. Those people are delusional and super judgemental and narrow minded. I've had my experience. F*ck that!! I also don't want a human being (pastor or preacher) control me using fear. I don't want to give anyone power or control over my life. Also pay them.
Faith isn’t fear, but you’ll get that eventually. And we donate to help our pastors feed their families. They aren’t all TV pastors with massive houses you know. And please be respectful, we’re trying to have a level debate.
Load More Replies...guys please don't let this guy make you form opinions about christians, a decent study of the bible will show that multiple occurences of the bible either legitimately happened, or were metaphors to represent occurences, even the creation story of the bible's order of events matches with the actual order that the earth formed, in millions of years instead of days
Any "decent study of the bible" will reveal it to be no more than a collection of stone-age tales written by men to control others. Surely, an all-powerful god would be aware of the entire world he purportedly created, not just a measly piece of desert.
Load More Replies...Just to be clear -- not all Christians believe in a literal 6-day creation, or that dinosaurs and humans were on the planet together. Some of us believe God used evolution in creating the universe. Some of us have absolutely no problem with science (heck, God created it). We're not all brainless idiots.
As a Christian, I like to think the dinosaurs went extinct when the two got off Noah's ark. And then they accidentally fell off a cliff. Which would explain everything without having to take asteroid craters into account.
I think maybe god did it "by accident" to let the kinder animals realm
Load More Replies...Why do Adam & Eve have bellybuttons? They had 2 kids Cain & Able, where did the grandkids come from? Almost every man & beast in the world is evil, except Noah & his family. So murder the whole world humans, animals, loads of birds, insects, reptiles & oh wait, fish are cool, Lucifer must have laughed his a*s off... Oh yeah just for good measure, close your eyes and just imagine you're in the Middle East a few thousand years ago... find me a group of guys named Matthew, Paul, John, etc etc oh and Mary. I don't begrudge anyone's faith or beliefs, but realize many fables, tales and poems are based on truth to teach, not preach. "Be Excellent to each other." Bill S. Preston
Really? Thanks, you've just messed up my worldview. But at least I still have The Jetsons serial documentary to hold onto.
Load More Replies...I'm a Christian and I can say that this tweeter is very stupid in the way they said that. Education. Get it.
In the year of our Lord is what usually comes after that statement
Load More Replies...It’s really funny, the entire world talks a big talk about acceptance and peace but the moment the topic of god comes into the picture it’s nothing but hate and accusation. There’s no sense in calling out and hating gods word if you haven’t read it/understood it and applied it’s principles. To hate it because of what many men do “in the name of god” but staunchly in contrast to what God tells one to do, then this is not a faithful person. Most people want an excuse to not be accountable, to do as they please and that is it. If they wanted to truly understand it, they could. But all this hateful talk against believers in god, it does not shed the best light on you and it certainly doesn’t prove any kind of point, it’s just hypocrisy. And I’m explicitly talking to all of the naysayers below in the comment section.
And this is the kind of commentary you get when you mash two unlike disciplines together. Science and Religion, as needed and useful as they both are, make terrible bedfellows.
Science is needed and useful, and I suppose you could say the same for religion, given that it seems to be the only thing preventing some people from becoming the next Jeffrey Dahmer.
Load More Replies...It is scientifically impossible for something to come from nothing. The question mark that we all arrive at eventually is my God
You may be correct. One's intelligence can be judged by how quickly they reach that wall of question marks, and what they resort to when they get there. I run out of mental confidence just before the realm of quantum mechanics, but I don't need to resort to a deity for my life's purpose. I am more than willing to leave the finer points of theoretical physics to someone with the appropriate background.
Load More Replies...Not an atheist, but still funny. You have to let science explain somethings. God made it isn’t always a good enough answer for intellects
I mean I'm not an atheist but I don't think god would've landed us right in the middle of an Earth with deadly lizards that are all 5 times larger than us
True. And there would only be two of us, so they'd be gone quickly.
Load More Replies...When god was ghost writing the bible, why didn't he insist on mentioning the extinction of the dinosaurs? Certainly he was responsible for their creation and demise, and what a perfectly threatening tale that would have been to keep the flawed humans he also created in line.
that is so fkg awesome! lmao!!! I'm guessing Matthew is a fan of that ridiculous dinosaur religious place in KY
Oh, man! I snorted diet coke out my nose when I read this! I was not prepared.
A lot of people don't realize that true Dinosaurs were gone long before Man appeared. Wooly Mammoths are not dinosaurs!!
Neither Christianity nor science require a belief in creation, but atheism does require a belief in evolution. The atheist is unable to decide objectively, while Christian and agnostic are free to consider all arguments. None of these beliefs are dependent on intelligence. Rather, we choose who we will trust.
I'm sorry but I have only one response to that... eskimo-pri...a09740.jpg
Facing deniers can be treated as a concerned and important effort to fight misinformation. The authors of the study suggest that “not turning up to the discussion at all seems to result in the worst effect.”
Meanwhile, showing up on an acquaintance's Facebook post, even if you think it's pointless, will surely do some good.
Interestingly, the authors claim that science deniers use the same rhetoric across domains. It means that “uncovering their rhetorical techniques is an effective and economic addition to the advocates’ toolbox.”
Never ending story of idiots spreading a disease because they do not believe in science.
I can't believe that the idiot had 1.8k up-votes. Yowsers, so many dafties.
Lol. How dare you debunk the nonsense I'm spewing on the internet with science? Don't you ever do that again!!!!
Even if you'd put the entire flat-earth movement in a spaceship and circle the earth in any way they want, they'd be telling you that it's a trick with mirrors and projectors. But at least they are harmless and don't hurt other people with their nonsense.
hahahaha I love it when people who have no flippin' idea who they are talking to make an a*s out of themselves. I always look up whoever I am in a discussion/argument/debate with before I make a comment that I might regret later. You never know if someone's background qualifies them to be right or not.
History is there to teach the future lessons. But of course, you do need some kind of education to be able to understand those lessons.
Do people forget that literally everything is made up of chemicals...?
Someone should probably tell them that Darwin believed in God and evolution simultaneously throughout most of his research years.
More and more European countries make vaccinating mandatory. Unvaccinated children are banned from schools in those countries and parents can be forced to have their children vaccinated. And rightly so. Screw your "strong convictions" and "religious beliefs", our national health is endangered because of your b******t and we are getting tired of your stupidity.
It's so sad to see one thinks that if their kids are momentarily healthy without vaccination, that's proof that this state will keep up indefinitely. It most likely won't. It would be funny to see their faces when they realize their mistakes, but it won't, because it would be to the expense of the child who'd deserve better.
Tell that to the families of women who died from cervical cancer. Including a 15 year old girl in the UK a few years ago. Plus it’s been proven that men can be affected by HPV as well so some are campaigning for teenage boys to have the vaccine too. Oh and it might not cause cancer, but more often genital warts and other infections. Who would want to be protected from getting genital warts right?! Morons...
Perhaps we need to write a law that hospitals have to check everyone's social media before treating them. "Sorry dude, you doubt our medical knowledge and you have solid evidence that our cures do not work, so we are not even going to try." or "Yes ma'am, Billy could be saved by a simple vaccination, but as you have repeatedly stated on Facebook: No one is going to poison your kid with vaccines. So take him home and enjoy your last 5 days with him." Wonder what the reactions would be?
I thought she was impressive just from what she's said. I didn't know her background. Wow! As a white boomer male, I would like Ted Cruz to stuff his mouth full of the money he gets from the NRA and shut up.
And it's not an easy death, it's painful and scary and preventable.
Seems that the US government has a particular talent of appointing the most stupid people in various positions.
Who cares if he qualifies as a "scientist"? He's a science educator, and a damn good one at that. I *am* a scientist and I greatly respect his work.
Sorry, but this not accurate. You also need to include the electricity that's needed to power the devices that people use to watch Netflix and the electricity that's needed to power the switches, modems and routers that are needed to get the signal from the server to the viewers. So yeah, the massive use of electricity does have an impact on emisions unless you decide to completely switch to renewable and sustainable energy sources like solar panels, wind turbines, and hydro electricity and abandon coal and nuclear powerplants.
Sorry to say so but I noticed that Conservatives indeed seem to have some competition going on who can post the most stupid c**p on the internet.
hot air. clearly he's never bothered to look at a single peer reviewed journal, or any of the thousands of videos, articles, interviews, and other material from scientists saying what a problem climate change is and how long we've known about it.
.......................I couldn't really be bothered to read the whole this but sounds like a great come back ................................
I had to stop reading these. People who embrace ignorance and stupidity are scarier than Freddie Kruger.
Yep. Even if Freddy were real, he'd still be less dangerous. He's killed far less people than willful ignorance has.
Load More Replies...Are these science deniers really stupid or are they trolls trying to make a joke? I always thought no one can be that stupid.
Same but there are some scary as levels of stupid and denial out there. Intelligence is knowing enough to know that you dont know everything. So many people lack that insight its disheartening for our future as a species
Load More Replies...I was caught spreading unproven facts (aka BS) on several occasions during my lifetime. It was really embarrassing bacause I considered myself an intelligent human being. Hopefully, these people learned something like I had learned, and will know better.
At least you can admit to being wrong and have made the choice to be educated. Well done you :)
Load More Replies...I really wish people who love to post stupid s**t would research what they are posting for the validity of the topic. So many times I see something and know instantly that something is amiss and it takes me just a few minutes to find the truth behind the post. No I don't use snopes but I use credible sources and post the websites to that person's post to let them know just how f*****g dumb they are to post stupid s**t. It really scares me that people are that gullible and naive.
The dihydrogen monoxide gullibility "test" comes to mind. When asked if it should be banned from food many people said yes becsuse it sounded scary to them, not realising what it actually was.
Load More Replies...So many idiots, too much of the time. I've just recently educated myself as to what QAnon is. It seems like there are even more of them than there are Flat Earthers! It's terrifying that we are surrounded by imbeciles. There's a good chance that one of them will be elected to Congress. God help us survive the teaming morons who inhabit our society.
i gotta remember some of these for the karrens out there like no. 14's NASA called they can see your stupidity from space
Also: 'Fat acceptance! Being obese is healthy! If you think obesity is unhealthy you're fat-phobic!' FALSE!! The term phobia specifically means a fear which is irrational. It's not irrational to fear obesity when the WHO, The UK Nat.'l Health Service, The US CDC, The US NIH, The Am. Heart Association, Cancer Research UK and The Am. Cancer Society have all issued official declarations that obesity is extremely dangerous to your health. In what way is the fear of dire health consequences irrational? Since that fear is not irrational, how could it properly be considered a phobia? Yes, call out the anti-science right who denies evolution and climate change. Call out the anti-science left on 'fat-acceptance' - esp. when a non-scientist-non-physician like Kelli Jean Drinkwater preaches it on the Ted stage. 'Enough With The Fear of Fat' she calls her Ted Talk. Wrong! People should be scared shitless of their obesity! It literally is as serious as a heart attack, and it literally is a matter of grave consequences.
Watch me explode over anti-vaxxers. I was born in 1950, so I was a little kid before many vaccines were available. I had chickenpox at age 5, measles (rubeola) at age 7, mumps age 11, rubella age 13. My dad took us to get our polio sugar cubes when I was six. He made up open our mouths to show him we swallowed it, all of it. But then, he had a cousin who had polio. I have retina scarring and a dimple on my cornea from the measles. My temp went over 105F 3 times, mom said they packed me in alcohol and ice water each time. I only remember twice. Then I spent 6-8 weeks in a darkened room, no TV, no books as they tried to limit the damage to my eyes. It is effing child abuse to not get your children vaccinated.
I have saved myself from looking like some of these people by the simple expedient of Googling the person I am talking to. It gives me the time and knowledge to realize that maybe I am the one who should keep her mouth closed and her ears open. If the other poster seems to be the idiot, I save time--and myself from unneeded stress-- by accessing the relevant FB. That usually tells me all that I need to know, like when it just isn't worth the bother, and I can only pray that person is felled by a falling piano before causing more harm.
To Daria: It is a true sign of intellectual growth and maturity to examine one’s prejudices frequently and reevaluate. That’s one of the reasons science is so important. It constantly looks at the data and confirms or changes . The best way to learn. Thanks for your note!
in Buddhist teaching there are 3 root's of evil things in this world. Greed, Hatred, Stupidity. back when I'm still a student, i always asking the teach why stupidity is one of it. now, i know why
Frightening... We have seen worldwide "wars" between things ... brands, societal/economical systems (and we awarded the winner, based on that the opponent collapsed earlier, not based on anything justifying to not expect the winner to collapse, too), will the next battle be between facts and stupidity? Idiocracy. Will come true.
Did *no one* pay attention in school? So many of these things were covered and explained by the time I was 15-16... Basic stuff... Educated in America, so you can't say it's that...
There is a huge anti-intellectual movement that's been going on for decades. They are the people who benefit from people not knowing the truth. They seek to undermine people's trust in "the authority" - scientists, academics, etc. Best example is the slogan of one of their TV networks - "We report, you decide." That may sound innocuous, but what they are really saying is, don't trust the expert's assessment, just believe what you want to believe.
Load More Replies...Why do those who work with factual information even bother trying to talk to dumb people? It's not like they can (or will) digest what's being said, and they certainly have proven that they abhor research and that the extent of their so-called knowledge is based on soundbites and headlines from dubious sources. Maybe scientific advancement has made this generation far too comfortable. Maybe they've concluded with their non-empirical brain cells that since they don't 'see' the problems anymore, there's no need for any more scientifically based solutions.
I think they hope anyone reading the posts/thread also reads their rebuttal and pauses to think.
Load More Replies...*sirens* "We have severe burns on many people, science doubters we need to give all of them a sense of logic and common sense before treating the burn!"
I think we need to stop "shutting down" people and act like decent human beings. Our society has become so negative and ugly , and there is a major superiority complex going around. Be nice to each other people. Who cares if you're wrong or somebody else is. Keyboard hazing has got to go
I had to stop reading these. People who embrace ignorance and stupidity are scarier than Freddie Kruger.
Yep. Even if Freddy were real, he'd still be less dangerous. He's killed far less people than willful ignorance has.
Load More Replies...Are these science deniers really stupid or are they trolls trying to make a joke? I always thought no one can be that stupid.
Same but there are some scary as levels of stupid and denial out there. Intelligence is knowing enough to know that you dont know everything. So many people lack that insight its disheartening for our future as a species
Load More Replies...I was caught spreading unproven facts (aka BS) on several occasions during my lifetime. It was really embarrassing bacause I considered myself an intelligent human being. Hopefully, these people learned something like I had learned, and will know better.
At least you can admit to being wrong and have made the choice to be educated. Well done you :)
Load More Replies...I really wish people who love to post stupid s**t would research what they are posting for the validity of the topic. So many times I see something and know instantly that something is amiss and it takes me just a few minutes to find the truth behind the post. No I don't use snopes but I use credible sources and post the websites to that person's post to let them know just how f*****g dumb they are to post stupid s**t. It really scares me that people are that gullible and naive.
The dihydrogen monoxide gullibility "test" comes to mind. When asked if it should be banned from food many people said yes becsuse it sounded scary to them, not realising what it actually was.
Load More Replies...So many idiots, too much of the time. I've just recently educated myself as to what QAnon is. It seems like there are even more of them than there are Flat Earthers! It's terrifying that we are surrounded by imbeciles. There's a good chance that one of them will be elected to Congress. God help us survive the teaming morons who inhabit our society.
i gotta remember some of these for the karrens out there like no. 14's NASA called they can see your stupidity from space
Also: 'Fat acceptance! Being obese is healthy! If you think obesity is unhealthy you're fat-phobic!' FALSE!! The term phobia specifically means a fear which is irrational. It's not irrational to fear obesity when the WHO, The UK Nat.'l Health Service, The US CDC, The US NIH, The Am. Heart Association, Cancer Research UK and The Am. Cancer Society have all issued official declarations that obesity is extremely dangerous to your health. In what way is the fear of dire health consequences irrational? Since that fear is not irrational, how could it properly be considered a phobia? Yes, call out the anti-science right who denies evolution and climate change. Call out the anti-science left on 'fat-acceptance' - esp. when a non-scientist-non-physician like Kelli Jean Drinkwater preaches it on the Ted stage. 'Enough With The Fear of Fat' she calls her Ted Talk. Wrong! People should be scared shitless of their obesity! It literally is as serious as a heart attack, and it literally is a matter of grave consequences.
Watch me explode over anti-vaxxers. I was born in 1950, so I was a little kid before many vaccines were available. I had chickenpox at age 5, measles (rubeola) at age 7, mumps age 11, rubella age 13. My dad took us to get our polio sugar cubes when I was six. He made up open our mouths to show him we swallowed it, all of it. But then, he had a cousin who had polio. I have retina scarring and a dimple on my cornea from the measles. My temp went over 105F 3 times, mom said they packed me in alcohol and ice water each time. I only remember twice. Then I spent 6-8 weeks in a darkened room, no TV, no books as they tried to limit the damage to my eyes. It is effing child abuse to not get your children vaccinated.
I have saved myself from looking like some of these people by the simple expedient of Googling the person I am talking to. It gives me the time and knowledge to realize that maybe I am the one who should keep her mouth closed and her ears open. If the other poster seems to be the idiot, I save time--and myself from unneeded stress-- by accessing the relevant FB. That usually tells me all that I need to know, like when it just isn't worth the bother, and I can only pray that person is felled by a falling piano before causing more harm.
To Daria: It is a true sign of intellectual growth and maturity to examine one’s prejudices frequently and reevaluate. That’s one of the reasons science is so important. It constantly looks at the data and confirms or changes . The best way to learn. Thanks for your note!
in Buddhist teaching there are 3 root's of evil things in this world. Greed, Hatred, Stupidity. back when I'm still a student, i always asking the teach why stupidity is one of it. now, i know why
Frightening... We have seen worldwide "wars" between things ... brands, societal/economical systems (and we awarded the winner, based on that the opponent collapsed earlier, not based on anything justifying to not expect the winner to collapse, too), will the next battle be between facts and stupidity? Idiocracy. Will come true.
Did *no one* pay attention in school? So many of these things were covered and explained by the time I was 15-16... Basic stuff... Educated in America, so you can't say it's that...
There is a huge anti-intellectual movement that's been going on for decades. They are the people who benefit from people not knowing the truth. They seek to undermine people's trust in "the authority" - scientists, academics, etc. Best example is the slogan of one of their TV networks - "We report, you decide." That may sound innocuous, but what they are really saying is, don't trust the expert's assessment, just believe what you want to believe.
Load More Replies...Why do those who work with factual information even bother trying to talk to dumb people? It's not like they can (or will) digest what's being said, and they certainly have proven that they abhor research and that the extent of their so-called knowledge is based on soundbites and headlines from dubious sources. Maybe scientific advancement has made this generation far too comfortable. Maybe they've concluded with their non-empirical brain cells that since they don't 'see' the problems anymore, there's no need for any more scientifically based solutions.
I think they hope anyone reading the posts/thread also reads their rebuttal and pauses to think.
Load More Replies...*sirens* "We have severe burns on many people, science doubters we need to give all of them a sense of logic and common sense before treating the burn!"
I think we need to stop "shutting down" people and act like decent human beings. Our society has become so negative and ugly , and there is a major superiority complex going around. Be nice to each other people. Who cares if you're wrong or somebody else is. Keyboard hazing has got to go